Haunted Folklore: The Haunting at Moon Point Cemetery in Streator

Editor’s note: Whether or not you believe in ghosts and hauntings, this is one of several spooky tales of local lore that Shaw Local News Network will be sharing with readers in the spirit of Halloween.

If you enter Moon Point Cemetery during a full moon, according to local lore, you may come across an ax-wielding woman, believed by some to be protecting her child’s grave after their untimely death.

The tale of “Hatchet Lady” has been an object of folklore in the community for decades. Some say she went insane after the death of her child, and others believe she is protecting the grave of her son who died during the Civil War – proving that nothing, not even death, can come between the love of a mother and her child.

Historical records reveal that Moon Point was named after Jacob Moon, who settled in that area near a stream after fighting in the War of 1812.

According to the History of Livingston County, 1878, it was one of the most beautiful spots in that part of the county. In 1830, Moon purchased the land adjacent to Moon Creek for a burial ground, the Moon Creek Cemetery.

However, it wasn’t until the 1960s when the first remnants of the legend of the “Hatchet Lady” began circulating.

Local legends claim a number of eerie happenings taking place during a full moon and if a train passes by the cemetery, such as children laughing; colored orbs; vehicles malfunctioning and leaving people trapped between the cornfields, forest and train; and, most notably, the ghostly apparition of a “Hatchet Lady.”

According to the shadowlands index of haunted places, each night that there’s a full moon, a spirit is seen running through the cemetery tossing hatchets after she went insane because of the death of her daughter.

Another story is that she was a widow who lost her son in a war. She was rumored to hang around Moon Creek until her death.

Moon Creek is no stranger to tragedy. With the fewer than 100 souls laid to rest, many suffered horrific and sudden deaths.

Ulysses Grant Murray, 11, burned to death July 30, 1880, with John Richardson when they were playing with powder.

George McMasters, 20, died in a fall off a rock in Kangley’s Shaft.

George Wilcox, a veteran, hanged himself in a barn in Reading in February 1893 when he was 62.

However, according to death records, only one of the buried met their death at the end of a hatchet. John Marynscheck Jr. was murdered June 26, 1886.

According to the Streator Daily Free Press, Marynscheck was not killed at the hands of a hatchet-wielding female. He was killed by a fellow countryman during a drunken brawl at the No. 3 coal mine.

Michael Kleen, a paranormal author, wrote about Moon Point and told another tale associated with the cemetery: an abandoned house, believed by some to be owned by a witch, that also is rumored to be haunted.

“I cannot help but wonder if the story of the witch and the ‘Hatchet Lady’ are related, but, nevertheless, many tales of seances and illicit trespasses have come from the location,” he said.

In hindsight, it may be Moon Point’s remote location that gives rise to such tales. A drive between cornfields, over railroad tracks and a turn into a wooded area doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Pair that with your car dying while waiting for a train to pass, and you’ve got the makings of a ghost story.